Nominate your favorite authors and books for each category to be a semi-finalist in the First Annual Kiss Awards!

Kiss Award Rules:

All romance books written in 2014/2015 are eligible to be nominated. This first round for the May nominees will take place on Facebook from 4/13-4/21. Only the top three in each category will move on to the semi-finalist voting round.

Voting on semi-finalists will take place from 5/1-5/14 on the Love Kissed Books website, and the finalist in each category will be announced in the June issue of the Love Kissed Books Magazine. They will receive a small feature ad in the magazine and cover placement on the website for the month of June.

Each month there will be a new round of nominations, semi-finalists and finalists. Authors may be nominated in different categories IF their work qualifies.The finalists from each month will compete again in November, to become a winner in each category.

The winner in each category will receive a physical Kiss Award from Love Kissed Books, a full page ad, and be featured in the January 2016 issue of Love Kissed Books magazine. All prizes will be mailed by February 2016.

First issue coming soon!

Blurb:

In going out with Parker, Abbie finds happiness once more. After the last blowout with Toby, work has been incredibly uncomfortable. Soon she’s caught between two men, one who seems a little too perfect, the other who seems a little too quick to get bent out of shape.

Falling in love is never easy, and finding out you’ve been played sucks. Abbie is determined to be the girl coming out on top. All’s fair in love and war. Can she forgive them? Or does she have a plan to make them both pay?

Amelie Stephens is a twenty-something wife and mother who loves to tell sweet and funny romantic stories, often those that have come from her own life. When she’s not changing diapers or cooking meals for her family, she’s writing.

Buy it Now for 99 Pennies!

Blurb for the New Hope Boxed Set:

Includes Stormy Surrender, Tempest Torn, and Under Umbrellas.

Stormy Surrender:

Visit New Hope, the small town with plenty of southern charm!

Sometimes the life you planned isn’t the one you get to live. Sometimes the pain of the past overshadows the future. And sometimes to start over you have to go back to where it all began. That’s how it was for Joe Masters. That’s how he ended up back in New Hope. And that’s why he was in his thirties and had nothing to show for his life. He needed a complete overhaul, just like his father’s old house. Instead of a fast track, he had slowed down and was on a ten year plan. These days that was more his speed. And as much as he tried to fight the inevitable, he was learning to accept and surrender.

Martha had weathered her fair share of storms in Vermont, was accustomed to the cold, both the chill in the air and the cold shoulder in her marriage, but after the miscarriage she felt like she would never get warm again. So she did the research from the laptop while sitting in front of the fireplace. She knew what she needed when she Googled ‘hope,’ she just never imagined that it would bring her to New Hope, South Carolina. She never imagined that her husband would trick her into leaving and never follow. She never imagined that a southern storm with all its force and fury could be so destructive. But after the storm, the land is washed clean. It’s perfect for a fresh start, a clean slate, and a new love.

Tempest Torn

Book Two of the New Hope Series full of small town charm and southern romance

A night of passion. A raging fire. A home destroyed.

The sun returned and Joey and Marti felt they had turned a corner in their relationship. Only when they turned that corner, they ran right into the insurance adjustor, Finn. She wasn’t just any woman, though. She was the one woman Joey always believed he’d spend the rest of his life with, but they couldn’t make it work. Soon it was obvious that she didn’t just want to adjust the value of the house, but remind Joey of the value of their relationship, and adjust his attitude about the future.

Suddenly, Joey struggles to choose between two women…one who has never and would never hurt him and one that his heart can’t let go despite the hurt. He’s not the only one with a choice to make. Never again will Marti allow anyone to make her question her own worth.

A tempest brews. A man is torn. A woman refuses to wait.

Under Umbrellas

Book Three of the New Hope Series, set in a small charming southern town

It has been six months since Marti agreed to marry Joey. Despite her history, she’s having a healthy pregnancy. They finally have her house to themselves and Joey has finished her To Do list. Life should be perfect, but it’s not. Joey is pressuring Marti to make it legal before the baby arrives, which is proving impossible since Blaine refuses to let go. Their situation is further complicated when Finn refuses to go away. Add in a town divided, a legacy to uphold, and a particularly vicious hurricane season, and then hang on.

Because life is full of storms and love means sharing an umbrella.

Nicole has been an author since 2011, but it was after the birth of her daughter, Kenna in January of 2012, that she was determined to make it a full-time career. As the fourth smallest preemie in the world, Kenna’s medical needs would prevent her from ever going to day care.

For fun, she spends time with those she cares about, cooks, reads, writes, and especially lives to travel. The current travel goal: visit every Margaritaville. Three down! (Eleven to go?)

Her writing can also be found on Shine, where she is a Shine Parenting Guru and an award winning Yahoo! Contributor on YourWisdom as the relationship and dating expert. In addition, she has been published by McClatchy News in their syndicated papers.

Her books can be found on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, Apple, and Smashwords in ebook, paperback, and even some audiobooks.

She did laugh this time. “Weren’t looking that closely at them before?” He frowned and she hurried to explain. “I have contacts. These are the violet. I was probably wearing gold last week.”

“Is there anything about you that doesn’t keep changing?” He didn’t seem uneasy, just a bit confused. She could almost see him trying to fit her into a box. That wasn’t going to happen.

“Not much. I like doing the unexpected, taking chances. It’s what makes life interesting and exciting.” She nudged his arm with her shoulder. “Too much for a country boy like you?”

He didn’t answer right away, obviously still sizing her up. “Not too much, just…different. I’m not sure I ever met a girl like you, Miss Sunshine.”

With a loud frustrated sigh, Sarah found Brian Waite holding a drink, sitting outside her door in one of the chairs meant for students waiting their turn during office hours. “Dr. Waite,” she greeted him, “to what do I owe this pleasure?” Never one to hide her feelings, if he even glanced at her, he’d know she certainly wasn’t enjoying his presence at the moment. With the pleasantries out of the way, she ignored him as she fumbled to find the key that fit her heavy wooden door and grew only more flustered having an audience.

“Here,” he murmured gently, taking the keys from her hand to unlock the door. He had begun to reach for the gift bag for her, probably so she could attend to it herself with both hands, but he must’ve noticed the white knuckled grip she had on the bag, and changed direction. It took him a half second to calmly insert the key and turn before the bolt clicked.

“Thank you,” she managed to grit out. It wasn’t even eight in the morning and already her nerves were absolutely frazzled.

They walked into her office where he made himself comfortable in one of the worn wood chairs opposite her desk. Sarah stood quietly a moment before clumsily searching for her desk key. She could feel tears pricking her eyes and her cheeks burned, the dead giveaway she might cry any time. In frustration she gave up and tossed the keys on the desk, then leaned heavily on the desk and inhaled deeply a few times. After pulling out her chair and sitting down, she wrung her hands in an effort to control them. Anxious as she was, they shook almost uncontrollably.

“Thank you,” she murmured, reaching for the drink, careful not to graze fingers in the exchange. In one fluid moment, she brought the sweet liquid to her lips and took a healthy sip before she leaned back in her chair. “Ahh.” The warmth spread through her system, soothing her.

“So, you mind telling me what has you so unhinged this morning?” Brian asked, seeming genuinely concerned. When she failed to respond, he tried a new approach. Eyeballing the bag, he had apparently decided to ease the tension with humor. “So, is that for me?”

“No,” she winced, “but don’t take it personally. It’s not for me either.” Seeing the quizzical look on his face, she sighed and continued. “I found these in Josh’s car this morning.” She plucked the lingerie from the bag and waved it in front of his face carelessly.

“Very nice,” he said admiringly. “But how do you know it’s not meant for you?” Sarah frowned for a moment, then dropped the thong in the bag and held the bra up in front of her chest. Even with her loose blouse on, it should be apparent the bra would never cover her ample breasts. “Oh, I see.” Brian was rendered speechless and distinctly pink, but decided to brave the next logical question. “So what are you going to do?”

Pulling into the parking lot, I shut off the engine and took a few breaths before exiting the car and tottering on my heels to the door. A small bell rang overhead as I stepped inside and the garage went silent as the men took me in. Smiling nervously, I asked softly, “Where’s Carter?”

A lanky Hispanic guy thumbed at the office. “In there.”

Hurrying through the greasy garage, I stood in the doorway of the office. Carter faced the window, his back to me. “Carter?”

“Hello, Brielle. Or should I call you Bri now? Everyone’s doing it.”

He didn’t turn to look at me and it hurt. “You’ve always called me Brielle. Let’s keep it that way. Aren’t you going to turn around and look at me?”

“Nope.”

I sighed, “I don’t want to fight. I just wanted to come home…”

“I thought home was far from here.”

“Home’s always been right here. I told you so in my letter.”

He spat, “Sorry, the rooms you occupied in my heart have been rented out to someone else. No vacancy.”

“That’s not what Charlie says,” I snapped back.

Whirling around in his chair, he faced me. “Is that so?” he growled.

“He says you haven’t dated anyone since I left. Was it because of that night?” Mother of God, time had been amazing to Carter. He was muscular, with slightly shaggy hair and a beard. My thighs clenched involuntarily. He looked delicious.

“It wasn’t because of that night. It was because I had to clean up the mess we made, alone.”

Glancing down at my boots, I flushed. “I know.”

Storming around the desk, he raged, “You left me here to bury your mother. You left me here to hold everything together while you traipsed off to the West Coast to start a new life. It looks good on you, though. Must’ve been nice not to have to struggle or wonder how you’re going to pay bills. So excuse me if I’ve been a little too busy to get fucked, Brielle. I’ve had a little bit on my plate.” Suddenly, he grabbed my arm, jerking me inside the office and slamming the door. “Why are you here?” he demanded, shaking my arm slightly. “To fuck with my head again? Because I’m not into that, not anymore.”

Glancing up into his beautiful eyes, I murmured, “I’m tired, Carter, and you don’t know a damn thing about what I’ve gone through in the last five years.”

“My doctor says I have to slow down. I have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. I’m exhausted.”

“Seriously?”

“I guess partying, doing drugs, drinking, and working twenty four seven tends to wear on a body. I have to stop touring for a while. My manager’s pretty pissed, but it is what it is. I told Dad I was here just for a little while at first, but it’s a lie. I’m here, for good. I’m walking away from my career.”

“You’re…walking away from your career. Are you fucking insane?” he exploded and I jumped.

“Don’t yell at me, Carter,” I whispered.

“So what, do you think you can walk in here, looking absolutely fucking beautiful and win me back, just like that? That all this time, all this fucking agony I’ve been going through would just simply disappear because you walked in? I guess it’s like, ‘Oh shit, the sun’s here, us dark clouds better haul ass!’” He leaned against the desk and snorted in derision. “Come on, Brielle, I know you better than that.”

“You used to know me. I just got out of rehab two months ago. I’m clean and sober, and I need to make amends for what I did to you.”

“Wait, what? Rehab?”

“Can I sit down?” I asked softly.

“By all means.”

Pushing my hair back, I smiled softly. “I am not proud of running, Carter. I just couldn’t process what had happened. The psychiatrist at rehab said my issues stemmed from being abandoned by my father and my mom dying so young. You had me up on this pedestal, Carter, and I couldn’t be who you needed me to be. So I ran.”

“It killed me when I realized you were just gone.”

“I’m sorry. I can’t change any of what happened in the past. All I can do is try to make the future better. Was my mother’s funeral…nice?”

“I guess if you consider funerals to be nice. Dad tried to get in the grave with her. He was trashed out of his mind. I’ve finally gotten him off most of the whiskey and onto beers, but it’s just trading one demon for another. He won’t get help. He says AA is for quitters.”

Grinning, I shook my head. “Sounds like Charlie. I’ve been calling and talking to him on and off since about a year after the…” I paused and cleared my throat. “Accident.”

“Good for you,” he snapped.

“Carter, I—”

Jumping out of his chair, he stalked across the room and threw the door open. “Get the fuck out. Shop’s closed for the afternoon.”

“Get. Out.” He growled again and with a laugh, they left the shop, closing the door behind them and switching off the open sign in the front window. “Sorry about that,” he sighed, settling back into his chair.

“It’s okay. You know, Carter?” I paused and blushed slightly. “You look fantastic. Charlie told me all that you’ve done for him and I’m really proud of you. I always knew you were a good guy. Way too good for me.”

He laughed. “Too good for you? What a crock.”

“I’m serious! Why do you think I kept you at bay? I didn’t want you to end up being a fuck up like me. I did things no kid should’ve been doing. I can’t do that anymore. All of my celeb friends are like ‘wow, amazing all night party!’ and I’m like, ‘made it through the day with only two naps!’ I rode in the fast lane for a little too long and I really need a mechanic to fix me up. Do you know a good mechanic, Carter? I need him to fix my heart. That’s the thing that’s the most broken.” Staring at him expectantly, I waited.

Blinking, he cleared his throat. “I don’t know what to say.”

“Tell me not to go. Please.” Standing, I rushed around his desk and plopped into his lap. “Give me another chance to make it right.” I knew what I was about to do would either go one of two ways. He’d either allow it to happen or he’d push me away in disgust. Pressing my mouth to his, I died. Logan’s kiss had been nice, but this was far from nice. He kissed me back and tangled his hands in my hair. His tongue tangled with mine and set me on fire.

Suddenly, he stood from his chair, wrapped my legs around his waist and kissed me harder. He opened his office door and took me across the garage to stairs on the far wall. He carried me up them and I kissed down his neck. I needed to feel his skin against mine so I ripped at his shirt and dug my nails into his chest. I was a woman possessed and I only wanted him.

Now I’ll tell you the truth. Toby Lakeland has never touched me once in a way I didn’t want him to. In fact, I wish he touched me more. I wish he wasn’t so scared to make a move. I wish he would…I cannot tell you what I wish he would do here. But I would tell Toby just what I wanted him to do if he would only listen. It’s dirty, though, Toby. I hope you like being dirty, Toby, because I know we can do some amazingly dirty things together. And I would like it. I’d never tell people you were making me do things I didn’t want to do. I’d want it. I’d want it even more than you probably. Because you’re so good, and you probably don’t do bad things with bad girls like me. But I promise you that I would make you like being bad, but only when you are being bad with me.

You all might be asking why I am telling you all this in a post talking about how I know I shouldn’t talk about people, but there is a perfectly good reason: I have to embarrass myself as much as I embarrassed him and maybe then he won’t be so mean to me anymore. Only he isn’t mean to me at all. He is friendly. Too friendly. I don’t want to be friends, Toby. I wanted to be in the type of relationship that means we can do the type of things I talked about in the last paragraph.

So now I have made us even. Because now we are both embarrassed, but you don’t have to be since I told everyone you were innocent in everything. You aren’t boring or arrogant or too handsy. Your hands are perfect, and I want to feel them on me again.

So here is what I want all of my readers to know, but Toby, I want you to know the most: I am not going to write about people on here anymore unless they deserve it. I am not going to make fun of men like Toby because I don’t want to hurt their feelings. It’s mean of me. So after I make all of my confessions, I am going to stop talking and be just another anonymous person who dates anonymous people. And I want you, Toby Lakeland, to be my anonymous person.

Please say yes. You don’t have to tell me on here: I know you like to be private. Just tell me. Tell me what you think of me. Tell me you don’t want to just be friends. Tell me you want to kiss me and touch me and do all the things to me that I want to do to you. And there are a lot of things I want to do to you, things I have never wanted to do to anyone ever.

All I could do since you left me so unsatisfied today is drink. That is what happens when you aren’t happy with me: I have to drink to stop feeling so sad. I don’t want to feel this way anymore. I don’t want to have to drink because of how you make me feel. I just want you. So please forgive me. Please really forgive me and like me again like you did before.

Remember? Remember, Toby? You asked me out on the date. You came up to me in the break room when nobody else was around and you were so cute and embarrassed and you even blushed and I thought to myself, “Aw, he is so adorable when he is nervous.” And then you asked me if I wanted to go to dinner with you, and I did. I really did. You asked me out and you were nervous and so I know you really liked me. Please like me again.

I have to go now because I have to cry again. If someone reads this before tomorrow, please tell Maggie to come home and take care of me.

And after this post, I will no longer be talking about my dating life, you guys. I am going to take a break from blogging for a while, and when I come back, it is going to be bigger and better and anonymous-ier. It might pop up at any time, and it could be about whatever the newly anonymous writer (I mean me) wants to write about. But it will not be about Toby.

Toby, I cannot wait to see you at work on Monday (but only if you really, truly forgive me this time and want to start to love me like maybe I could start to love you.)

Buy it Now!

Blurb:

Meet Abbie, cubicle dweller by day, blogger by night. Acting as her online diary, the blog feature a no-holds-barred, true life, gritty account of her sometimes funny, sometimes painful, often dirty love life. Oh, and she doesn’t always change the names to protect the innocent.
After a date with coworker, Toby, she has a new reason to hate Mondays. When the post goes viral, Toby seeks revenge and enlists the help of his buddy Parker to do it. Both guys soon realize when she isn’t bad -mouthing men, she’s pretty likable, maybe even lovable. All may be fair in love and war, but what happens next will rock the internet and her world.

She’s in love with not one, but two men. What’s a girl to do?

Excerpt 1:

The Office Eye Candy: Fun to Look at, Painful to Date

Abbie Baker | On March 21, 2015

If you had asked me a year ago just what I thought about office romances, I would have told you that nobody in their right mind would ever have one. Nothing good could happen from one, right? If you had asked me that a year ago, though, I would have taken inventory of all the men I worked with and would have come up with Nathan, 47, balding and wheezy; Derek, 59, a happily married father and grandfather; and Tyler, who while the right age, is gay. When you have the male coworkers I had then, it is easy to be judgmental about workplace romances.

When your elderly fellow employee retires and is replaced with a young, good-looking, single, straight guy, however, it becomes a whole lot easier to decide that nothing is just black or white. I am here to tell you, though, that your first instincts are correct: do not cross the line. Because if you do, you could end up right where I am now: loveless, mad, and with yet another reason to hate Mondays.

If you have been following the dating drama that is my life, you know that tonight was my much-anticipated date with Toby, my heart-stopping, next-cubicle neighbor. We bonded over a jammed printer, shared dismay when we thought the company was being closed, and laughed together in relief when we found out that we were only changing buildings. All in all, we were clearly destined for couple greatness.

In preparation for the big event, I was waxed, polished, and tweezed. I spent a week’s salary on a form-flattering outfit, and I spent an hour on my hair. But I didn’t mind. It was an investment in my future position as Mrs. Toby Lockland.

Is there someone you can sue when a fool-proof investment falls flat?

That’s right, ladies. Toby was an epic failure, and you guys are all going to reap the rewards of my humiliating ordeal.

Amelie Stephens is a twenty-something wife and mother who loves to tell sweet and funny romantic stories, often those that have come from her own life. When she’s not changing diapers or cooking meals for her family, she’s writing.

Blurb:

The Wait (a four part serial)

After finding lingerie in her husband’s vehicle, Sarah waits for her divorce to be final, to find someone to share her life with, to uncover the secrets of her past. Then a tarot card reading on a Girl’s Night Out starts everything in motion. Brian has been lingering in Sarah’s friend zone for years, but suddenly it looks like the wait might be over.

On the fringes of their new life, a darkness lingers, waiting for the opportunity to steal everything they have.

What made her decide to be an erotica author?

Simple.

How else was she going to parlay her two favorite past times into a career?

Emma is single and loving it. Like her first character, Alysin, Sin for short, she doesn’t believe in settling or in settling down. She loves to indulge in her passions whenever the mood strikes and enjoys keeping all of life’s cliche moments spicy.

Known for her sense of humor, Emma surrounds herself with friends whose antics often become the source of book fodder. Her ideal situation would be to explore the Caribbean while writing. She pursues that dream daily.